All the Ballparks

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Waiting for Game to Start

We got to Nats @ Dbacks game way early. We even got the gift shop shopping out of the way before they closed to prepare for opening for the game. I got a cool baseball that has a street map of Phoenix downtown marking where Chase Field is. Mik has probably 5 or more Dbacks mini bats in his collection already, but he found a black one on homestand special to add to the collection. They also had some World Baseball Classic 09 stuff on sale. I got two balls and Mik got a mini bat from that section. Lastly I got a cool Chase Field postcard that has spots on the back for putting the game info like final score. I am mailing that with a Take Me Out to the Ballgame stamp for my postmarked postcard collection.

The park finally opened at 3pm. On the way to our seats I got a helmet sundae. I am going to try to collect one from each team when we are at their ballpark. Mik already got a meatball sandwich, but we will probably have dinner later as we are still full from lunch at Sonic. Now we are waiting for the game to start. About another 30 minutes to go.

Go Nats!!!!!!

And from Mik: Go Dbacks!!!!!!!!!!!

Mik Plays Wii at Play Ball Exhibit at Mesa Historical Museum

The trip has begun with the day trip to the Phoenix area. First stop was the Mesa Historical Museum to see the Play Ball exhibit about the history of the Cactus League. Mik took his PSP in, which I allowed as long as he behaved. He soon put that down, though, because I pointed out that they had a Wii to play. He sat and played Backyard Baseball on the Wii while Dad and I looked at the exhibit and a few other exhibits at the museum.

The Wii was definitely Mik's favorite part. My favorite part was looking through knptholes in a fence at photos of Cactus League ballparks. Dad's favorite part was learning about Bill Veeck, Jr. and how Hi Corbett is where the Cactus League started.

After lunch at Sonic we are now on our way to the BOB (i.e. Chase Field) for the Nationals at Diamondbacks game. I will post more photos of the exhibit and all the rest of the days photos probably tomorrow. Perhaps an update or two from the ballpark today, too.

Sent from my iPhone

Monday, April 13, 2009

Countdown to Trip Begins: 26 Days

Today Mik asked how many days until May because once it is May he knew there was only 20 days left of school, which is the day before the true road trip part of the trip begins. He has officially begun to countdown to the trip. It is kind of funny that he is the one to start counting down the days because he has been an almost reluctant part of the trip. He was totally against it when we first proposed it last summer, but he has slowly come around to the idea and is definitely looking forward to completing his mini bat collection with bats from every team and hopefully adding some unique ones to go with his Dbacks World Series and Nationals Inaugural Game part of the collection. He is also excited to be trying the food at the different ballparks, especially pierogis at the Pittsburgh game on his birthday.

Anyways the countdown in Mik's definition begins today with 38 days until the trip begins. In my definition the trip begins with the Dbacks game on May 9, so only 26 days.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Official Itinerary for All the Ballparks Road Trip

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Only 2 More Games Left To Get Tickets For

The process of purchasing tickets for the trip is almost complete. We now have purchased tickets for 28 of the 30 games. For 27 of those 28 games we were able to get wheelchair and companion seats. The only team we had problems with was the Yankees. Not only do we not have wheelchair seats for that game, but we do not even have two seats next to each other. At least we did not have to StubHub it and Dad is still going to try the send a letter to get handicap tickets strategy that he heard was the process on some voice message when calling one of the Yankee ticket numbers he tried calling the day the Yankees tickets went on sale. Now the only games left are the Mets, which have not gone on sale yet, and the Padres, whose credit card processing was down this weekend.

Update on Yankees: We did eventually get a hold of their handicap department and got out tickets exchanged for three together in a handicap section. It seems like a very inefficient way to do it and they still come off as very disorganized, as they still had to do it through Ticketmaster, who said to us they were sold out of handicap seats. At least we do have handicap seats, though.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Beginning to Get Tickets

In the past few weeks we have begun to buy some tickets for the trip. We are waiting until next weekend to do the majority of the buying of tickets, but a few teams we decided to get as soon as we could. The first tickets we got pretty much just because they had them on sale back in January was the Rockies. As expected we had no problem getting handicap seats for their ballpark.

About two weeks ago we got the tickets for the Boston Red Sox game. We easily got handicap seats here, too. We were not sure if it was going to be easy, as when we called you could not get any tickets for the game we wanted online except for on StubHub. We ended up with tickets that were handicap and even a little less than the current cheapest for that game on StubHub.

This week we got the Cubs tickets. Again we easily got the handicap seats directly from the ballpark. We even got a parking pass for a handicap spot for the game. The Cubs handling of the handicap seats have impressed us the most so far. They do not mail out the tickets. You must pick them up at Will Call and the handicapped person must show a form of ID. Also, for the parking pass you have to give your handicap placard or plate number and will only be able to use the pass with that placard or plate. Both are great policies to help make sure they go to those that need them.

The Yankees on the other hand have proved to be a pretty disorganized team in my mind. For one they still do not have a date for when tickets will go on sale. I guess they go on sale right before the season begins. That does not bother me. What bothered us was that the ticket office is convinced that TicketMaster allows you to buy the handicap seats directly through the website just as if you were buying normal seats. Now we have been buying tickets for ballparks across the country online for years and every time we have to fill out a form and then we are contacted to buy the handicap seats over the phone. This year we have been avoiding that since the Orioles never contacted us back after filling out their form and have just been calling the ticket office numbers. Most ballparks always handle the sale of handicap seats, but I have noticed a few still have TicketMaster handle the sales, yet they are still have always been handled over the phone in our experience. I sure hope that that is the case for the Yankees and the ballpark people are just ignorant, as I feel that it is one of the teams that will have people trying to take the seats just to get tickets like the Cubs try to avoid with their policies.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Cactus League Exhibit Added to Itinerary

I have updated the All the Ballparks Plan to include the Cactus League Experience Play Ball Exhibit at the Mesa Historical Museum. It is located near where the Arizona Diamondbacks play and just opened earlier this month. Since the Diamondbacks game is not part of the main trip and that particular game is a night game, it should be easy to go to the exhibit before the game and really does not alter the plan besides leaving Tucson earlier than if we were just going to the game.